Breakwater

Carla Neggers

Breakwater

The fifth book in the U.S. Marshall series, 2006

To Zack

1

Qui

Defeated by an alphabet book, she thought, smiling at the little boy who’d crawled, book in hand, onto his mother’s lap at the next table. He made a face and turned his head away from her. His mother, flaxen-haired and smartly dressed, didn’t seem to notice and kept reading.

She was only on B. There was a lot of the alphabet to go.

Qui

Thinking it would be cooler today, she’d worn a lightweight black cashmere sweater that now was too warm. At least she’d pi

Four tiny, rickety tables, each with two chairs, and a row of big flowerpots filled with pansies passed for a patio at the small coffee shop just down the street from her office. Despite the gorgeous weather, she and the mother and son were the only ones outside, and the other two tables were empty.

Washington, Qui

She suppressed an urge to head off to Potomac Park and see the cherry trees-that would take the entire afternoon. Even native Beltway types like herself couldn’t resist the brief, incredible display of delicate pink blossoms on the more than three thousand Japanese cherry trees that lined the Tidal Basin in Potomac Park. The a

The mother was on the letter D. What would D be for? Qui

Dinosaur.

She took a bite of her croissant, the bittersweet chocolate center soft but not melted. An indulgence. She’d have a salad for di

“Qui

Startled, she looked up, crumbs falling onto her iBook as she tried to see who’d called her.

“Qui

Alicia Miller ran across the street, heading for the small patio. Instead of going around to the opening by the coffee shop’s entrance, she pushed her way between two of the oversize flowerpots, banging her knees.

“I need your help-please.”

Qui

Gulping in a breath, Alicia stumbled over an empty chair and made her way to Qui

“Alicia-my God. What’s wrong?”

Tears had pasted strands of her fine dark blond hair to her cheeks. Her face was u

The young woman at the next table shut the alphabet book and grabbed her son around his middle, poised to run.

Qui

But the woman, obviously not reassured, dropped the book on the table and lifted her son, his bottom planted on her hip as she swept up her slouchy, expensive tote bag and kicked the brake release on his stroller, pushing it in front of her toward the opening at the end of the flowerpots.

The little boy pointed at the table. “My book!”

“I’ll get you another.”

He screeched with displeasure, but his mother didn’t break her stride until she reached the sidewalk. She dumped the boy in the stroller, hoisted the tote bag higher onto her shoulder and was off.

Alicia didn’t seem to notice the impact she’d had on the mother and son. She couldn’t have gone to work today. Not in this shape, Qui

Qui

Of Qui

“Please. I need to…” She grabbed Qui

Qui

She squinted, shutting her eyes. “I can’t think.”

“What can I do to help?”

Her eyes flew open. “Nothing! No one can do anything now. The osprey…” She screwed up her face, fresh tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. “I saw an osprey tear apart a duckling. I think it was last weekend. It was horrible. The poor little baby.”

“I’m sorry. They’re birds of prey, so that sort of thing happens, but it’s not pleasant to witness.” Qui

“You’re working…”

Qui

Alicia mumbled something unintelligible. She couldn’t seem to stand still or stop fidgeting. This was beyond a touch of burnout and the stress of her job getting to her-today she appeared to be on the verge of a total meltdown. She jerked her hand back from Qui

“About what? The osprey? Alicia…” Qui

Her friend didn’t seem to hear her. “The osprey, the osprey. Qui

She stiffened her arms as if she was trying to keep herself from shattering into little pieces. Her movements were uncoordinated, jerky. In recent months she’d been openly restless, looking, she said, for more to life than her work, her next promotion, success-she just didn’t know what. Weekends on the bay were supposed to help her figure that out.

“Alicia, at least let me take you to your office. Someone there can help-”

“No!” She backed up a step, hitting Qui

Alicia pushed at the air, as if she was trying to bat away something flying at her. Had the osprey preying on a duckling so traumatized her? Qui

“No one knows I’m here, seeing you. I didn’t tell anyone.” Alicia lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from moving. “Not a soul.”